Author Rikki Cason (pictured above), formerly of St. Joseph, Mo., recently published her first book, “The Princess and the Locket.” This is the first book in the Princess Trilogy that tells the magical tale of Aleigh Denallen, as she faces the fears of growing up, discovering love and finding herself along the way.
Aleigh is joined in the story by characters such as Drew Davihouse, prince of Itolian; Bones Michaelson, Aleigh’s eccentric best friend and Vald Denallen, her estranged father, who passed on a magical gift she never wanted.
This series is perfect for young adult, teenage readers.
Cason was born and raised in St. Joseph, graduating from Benton High School and Missouri Western State University. She now resides in Western New York, where she is pursuing a career in journalism. Many of her family and friends still reside in St. Joseph and Kansas City.
Cason first began working on the trilogy at the age of 17, as a way of dealing with her own insecurities of growing up and facing the unknown. Though set in a fictional world, Cason first drew inspiration for Ongoosem and some of the characters in the trilogy from her family, friends and surroundings at the time.
“I began writing the first book when I had just graduated from high school, so a lot of the topics, scenes and issues Aleigh faces are based off things that I was dealing with at that point in my life, but altered to fit into a fantasy world,” Cason said. “Then, as I got older, and I made changes and added on to the story, it became more about what I thought the character of Aleigh would be facing at that point in her life. Once the initial story was done, it was easy to expand the story of the girl and her prince.”
More than 10 years from when the story first took shape, Cason is happy to be sharing the tale of Aleigh and Drew with the public for the first time.
“’The Princess and the Locket’ first began as a children’s book,” she said. “It started out as a story that rhymed. There are actually still a couple sentences in the book that I kept from the original story, that do still rhyme. After writing the children’s story, I realized that I had a lot more to tell on this topic, so it developed into a novel. Then I realized I wasn’t done after one and there should be three. Like most stories in this genre, there is also room for additional stories or a prequel.”
The second book in the series, “The Princess and the Ticking Clock” will be released this summer. The third book, “The Princess and a Ring of Destiny” will be released in early 2016.
For more information about the trilogy or Cason visit www.princesstrilogy.com or follow the Princess Trilogy on Facebook. “The Princess and the Locket” can be purchased through CreateSpace or Amazon.
Cason will also be visiting her hometown next weekend, where she will have a booth at the UCP Chili Challenge at the Civic Arena. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Cason will be selling her book, signing copies and answering questions upstairs in the vendor area.